Cabinet Minister Quits X With Swipe At What Elon Musk Has Done To It

A cabinet minister and her department have dramatically quit X over the “abuse and misinformation” now widespread on the platform.

Culture secretary Lisa Nandy said “it isn’t healthy for our democracy or our communities and I don’t want to support it”.

Nandy said X – formerly Twitter – was originally “a platform originally designed for free speech and expression” but had changed over time.

Her comments were a clear swipe at tech billionaire Elon Musk, who introduced a raft of changes after he bought the platform in 2022.

Nandy announced her shock decision just seconds after Keir Starmer posted a video on X announcing that pubs can stay open until 5am on Monday to show England’s World Cup clash with Mexico.

A No.10 source said they had no plans to follow Nandy by leaving X.

Announcing her decision on Thursday, Nandy said: “I’ve decided to leave this platform and my department will too.

“A platform originally designed for free speech and expression now favours abuse and misinformation over meaningful debate. It isn’t healthy for our democracy or our communities and I don’t want to support it.”

She said she would still post content on Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn.

However, her decision drew criticism from some X users, with some people saying she should use her powers to crack down on abuse rather than leave the site altogether.

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